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MIDEM moves to June, adds new strands
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 5 June 2014
Bad news for fans of Cannes in the rain, the music industry’s big annual shindig in the French city, MIDEM, is moving from its traditional January/February slot to June.
Yes, June in Cannes, people. Cocktails in the summer sunshine, anyone? Good job the whole thing’s been pushed back six months, it gives us all a little more time to save up. I reckon if we all club together in twelve months time we could probably afford three and half Cannes cocktails between us. Happy times.
So yes, MIDEM 2015 will take place from 5-8 Jun, and as well as the new dates and, hopefully, more reliable weather, there’ll be another “new look” at the event. Says MIDEM Director Bruno Crolot: “MIDEM 2015 will have a new look, new content and a new atmosphere, as well as being partially open to the general public. We believe the result of the changes will be a bigger, more vibrant MIDEM, with more participants from more countries. All of this and a move to a June date when Cannes is at its best”.
The original European business exchange for music publishers and record labels, MIDEM has seen its attendance numbers slide in the last decade amidst new competition on the conference and convention front, and less demand for the meetings-and-deal-making trade fair that was always at the centre of the proceedings. Tighter budgets at even the biggest music companies have also had an impact given Cannes is not a city designed to be done on the cheap.
Though, relatively speaking, MIDEM is still one of the biggest annual events for labels and distributors worldwide, and many of those who still regularly attend seem to prefer the fact the delegation isn’t so big these days, citing quality over quantity. Though you sense that the event’s organiser’s have been less keen on the smaller numbers, and the addition of events open to the public is presumably an attempt to address that.